Antonelli hopes to make up places in Monza as "race pace has looked useful"
Having qualified seventh in yesterday's qualifying at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, home favourite Andrea Kimi Antonelli hopes to make up places in today's race as "race pace has looked useful."
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli looked very competitive in the first two segments of qualifying, but they slightly struggled to extract the best performance on Pirelli’s soft tyres in Q3.
With margins having been so tight in qualifying, Russell ended up only sixth fastest, while Kimi Antonelli, who has an own exhibition in the Monza fan zone, took seventh. However, they will both benefit from Hamilton’s penalty.
Commenting on his qualifying day at Monza, Antonelli said: “That is a much better result than we have managed to achieve in Qualifying recently. I had to rebuild my speed having lost track time in FP2 so to be starting near the front again is a good result.
"We can therefore be pleased with how today went, even if we know that there was likely more performance there.
The Italian continued: "My last lap wasn’t my best so I think we could have been starting higher up but I am still happy with how our session unfolded.
Signing off with a word for his expectations for Sunday’s Monza race, the Bologna-born driver added: "The field is very tight, and we have a slight top line speed disadvantage to Ferrari this weekend due to set-up choices.
"We know overtaking is already difficult here so it may be a challenge to make much progress from P6.
"That said, our race pace has looked useful, and we can hopefully use that to good effect on Sunday to gain positions and come away with a strong result.”
